The men’s tennis team faced some tough opposition this weekend, Feb. 25, in its matches against UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire and Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Vikings were swept by both UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire (0-9), but they stepped up against the team from Milwaukee School of Engineering to defeat them 7-2.
Although the Lawrence men were swept by both UW teams, there were some close match-ups. On Saturday against UW-La Crosse, Cooper Smith was defeated by his opponent in the first round 2-6, rallied in the second match and defeated his opponent 6-2, but ultimately lost after being defeated in the third match 3-6.
Max Zlevor narrowly lost his match against UW-La Crosse’s Peter Stadum after being defeated in the second round 5-7. In doubles competition, Jason Dunn and Zlevor narrowly lost their match against their UW-Eau Claire opponents 7-9. The Lawrence men were swept by both UW teams with the final score being 0-9.
Despite these initial losses, the Viking men rallied against the team from the Milwaukee School of Engineering to defeat them 7-2. Smith easily defeated his opponent, Nick Matsuura, in two rounds by scores of 6-1 and 6-3.
Caleb Ray, after narrowly winning the first round of his match-up against Jeff Scarpelli with a score of 7-6, came back in the second round to end the match, defeating Scarpelli 6-1. Also in singles competition, Dunn won his match-up against Juan Montenegro in two rounds with scores of 6-4 and 6-1 respectively.
The pair-up of Dunn and Zlevor defeated their Milwaukee opponents, Montenegro and Eric Klamrowski, by a score of 8-3 in doubles competition. Also in doubles, the team of Ray and Smith triumphed in their match with a score of 8-2, while Shota Nakada and Craig Sherwood defeated their Milwaukee opponents by a score of 8-5.